Stateline Bean

Stateline Bean

Friday, June 29, 2012

Good Morning All~I just wanted to write to let you all know that I recently got accepted into the Class of 2016 at Kansas State University Veterinary School. As I pondered my acceptance, I had tough decision to make. I have enjoyed getting to meet everyone and learning about dry edible beans in Western Nebraska. I have grown a ton as a person as well as in my knowledge of the crop side of production agriculture. Today will my last day in the office. Please forward all of your questions to Dave at (308) 641.1244 or either office - Bridgeport (308) 262.1222 or Gering (308) 436.2186. Thank you for making me feel so welcomed in this community!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Monday, we reached 200 blog posts! I hope everyone has been enjoying these posts as we have traveled through the last year of happenings at Stateline Bean. My goal has been to share with you what I see and experience through my eyes at our bean elevator here in Western Nebraska. I would like to thank you all for reading and I hope you have enjoyed staying up-to-date with your grower-owned bean producers cooperative. :)

Monday, June 25, 2012

I will always have fond memories of this seed season. We had so many flat tires, breakdowns, and so much fun! Teamwork is what it is all about! Some farmers unloaded their own seed from our flatbed, other times Heath used their equipment to unload, and other times (when I got to go along) we unloaded the seed by hand. We stopped along side the road a few times to change tires, check straps, or to adjust our load. Always an adventure....

Now, let's pray we get some rain to get those beans up out of the ground!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

11:22 pm....the phone rang. So late to be calling, but after taking the call, I realized there was a bad hail storm coming my way. I was able to get the pickup in the garage and my potted flowers up against the house. This was just the perfect amount of warning as this storm was not predicted earlier in the day. It it hard and it hit fast. I was sitting on my living room couch when it began....11:36 pm....the windows were being pelted with sideways hail with the wind coming out of the west. The shingles were flapping on the roof and you could not see the country yard lights outside of the windows. I just sat there and cried for the farmers who are exhausted from planting and irrigating (so early) and now they have the potential to loose it all. 11:41 pm, it was over and on to the next farm.....

Wow, now, more than ever, do I truly understand the phrase, 'it is not in my control.' Mother nature is taking a rough toll on us through in all of her wild ways....forest fires, hail, and wind. It makes you realize how blessed we are to have what we have, knowing that it will be there when get back. This is something I totally take for granted some days. There are people in Colorado losing their homes right and left and everything they own. It is so very sad.

These beautiful chairs, for example, that my daddy made for me, sit outside my house. Each night I look at them thinking, I should just sit and relax in those chairs and watch the sun go down. Then last night, after waking up to that crazy storm, I realized that they might not be there when I wake up. That wind was so harsh that it broke several windows on the west side....2 storm windows and 1 screen on the house and 1 window on the shop! Luckily, my wonderful chairs were still there and not in shambles like all the trees, crops, and flowers!

I got up and took a bike ride to assess the fields from the road. It looked like quite a bit of hail damage, but depending on the stage and type of crop, things may be ok. We have already had several calls here at the elevator from farmers needing more seed to replant their bean fields.

Moral of the story: I am thankful for the wonderful, much needed rain we got and I will work to simply enjoy the beauty of life. You never know what tomorrow may bring. "You have to be alive while you are living."